An ISIS member Xalit İbrahim captured by the YPGstated that Turkey continues to send arms, ammunition and jihadists to ISIS mainly through Jarablus and Til Rai. İbrahim noted that the Turkish aid to ISIS decreased because ISIS-Turkey relations got exposed and the border between ISIS and Turkey got shorter.

The trial of prominent Turkish columnist Cengiz Çandar, accused of “insulting” President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan in seven opinion pieces, was opened and immediately adjourned in Istanbul on April 6. Çandar, a veteran columnist of the recently-closed news website Radikal, faces up to four years in prison on charges of insulting the president in columns published between July 26 and Aug. 19, 2015.

Jaysh Al Islam (Army of Islam) admitted using chemical weapons against Kurdish civilians in Aleppoi northern Syria. Jaysh Al Islam group is in Geneva 3 peace talks as a major representative of the Free Syrian Army.

Lawyers in Cezîre Canton wanted the legislative, executive, and judiciary powers to be separated and clearly identified in the Social Contract of the Democratic Federal System in Rojava-Northern Syria. The committee of the social contract continues visiting different groups and organizations to get their suggestions for making laws of the federal system.

Iraq (Bashur or South of Kurdistan)

Qubad Talabani, the deputy prime minister of KRG, and his accompanying delegation headed to the United States. The delegation consists of Kareem Shingali, the KRG interior minister, the acting minister of the Peshmerga ministry, and Falah Mustafa, the head of the KRG Department of foreign relations.

On April 7, 2016, Urban Ahlin the Speaker of the Sweden’s Parliament received Dr. Mohammed Yousif the Speaker of the Iraqi Kurdistan’s Parliament in his office. Both the Speakers discussed issues related to the Middle East, Iraq, Syria as well as relations between the Kurdish and Swedish Parliament. The crises Kurds in Iraq and Syria are grappling with were also spoken about.

S. Vice President Joe Biden encouraged the Iraqi government and Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) to cooperate together as both sides are working to strengthen unity and economic stability.

A source told NINA that “the elements of ISIS attacked Peshmerga forces in Wana sub district about 40 kilometers north of Mosul. Peshmerga forces killed a suicide before reaching their barracks and foiled ISIS’s attack.

According to the latest decision by the General Administration of the Internal Press at the Ministry of Guidance (GAIPMG), seven more Kurdish magazines have been banned from publication in Iran.

Intelligent service forces raided in a house in Baneh and arrested two brothers with the names of Hossain Daneshmand (41 years old and traditional medicine vendor) and Hasan Daneshmand (43 years old and physician), both residents of Tehran. They were on a trip to spend some time in their mother’s house for the New Year, and there is no information about their faith since then.

On April 9, 2016, a Kurdish environmentalist with the name of Afshin Hossein Panahi was arrested and transferred to an unknown location by Iranian security forces. Afshin’s family have reportedly told HRANA that security forces had broken into his house and seized his personal equipment.